1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a handheld Multi-Function Peripheral (MFP), and more particularly to the handheld Multi-Function Peripheral capable of scanning.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid evolution of high technology, electronic products are being developed quickly. The electronic products, such as scanner, printer, and cellular phone, bring the convenience to the modern life. However, in the city with high population, the living space is too small for placing these products. Multi-Function Peripheral (or Multi-Function product, MFP), a product with several functions, is therefore produced to save the living space. The hand held MFP, with advantages of Multi-Function and portability, become the most popular product nowadays. With the portability, the hand held MFP can help people to record the daily schedule and deal with the business anywhere and anytime. The hand held MFP usually possesses the functions of Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Calculator, Cellular Phone, and Game. The hand held MFP with the appearance of PDA is described bellow.
Referring to FIG. 1, which depicts a conventional Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). The PDA 100 includes a base 102, a display 104, three control buttons 106, and a stylus 108. The display 104, such as a touch screen integrated into Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), is mounted on the top surface 110 of the base 102. The control buttons 106 equipped on the top surface 110 of the base 102 are easy to operate. The removable stylus 108 is placed in the stylus holder 112 and can be remove from the stylus holder 112, or insert into the stylus holder 112 along the direction of arrow 150 as needed. It is very convenient that the messages are input into the PDA 100 by touching the display 104 with the stylus 108. Besides, the PDA is connected to the internet via wireless communication so that user is able to surf the internet, browse the web sites, upload or download the data in real-time.
Additionally, people usually exchange the business cards when they first meet each other. User can use PDA to input the content of the business card for building the digital files; however, it is inconvenient that PDA requires manual entry of data either using a miniaturized keyboard, or by cursive writing with a stylus on the PDA word by word. User also can use the flatbed scanner to scan the business card and then transmit the image PDA; however, the flatbed scanner is too large to carry. Accordingly, incorporating a very small scanner into a PDA would significantly enhance the usefulness for data entry. For example, a business card or a picture could be scanned directly into the PDA and the scanned image is converted to digital data, and edited or modified by user. Therefore, how to develop a portable electronic product such as PDA with scanning function, especially a portable multi-function peripheral with scanning function is very important for the research workers.